WITH THE SECOND CONTINGENT.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10626, 9 April 1900, Page 5

WITH THE SECOND CONTINGENT.

THE MARCH TO CARNARVON.

HEARTY RECEPTION OF THE

TROOPS,

T OT_TNCS BY THE WAY.

HOW THE BOERS ACTED AT

KENHARDT,

STORY OF A REFUGEE,

(FROM OtJll SPECIAI- CORRESPONDENT.)

CARNARVON, March 8.

We left Victoria road hurriedly on Sunday last. Fresh orders having beeT. received, the tents were struck, and we hurried away at 2 p.m., Sergeant Dumaresq. and eight men being left in charge of the camp, to await the arrival of the remainder of the Contingent. We heard that the battery could not come up, as there was no ammunition waggon. We started 116 strong, and only marched as far 'as Vie : toria West, a village eight miles off. The march was enlivened by Pills, the pack horse, removing his load five times. The last time the Major, who had remained behind to complete arrangement-, overtook us, and found the road strewn with medical packages, stretchers, and buckets, whilst the perspiring rear-guard and the very good natured Hille were endeavouring to persuade Pills to allow himself to bo re-sad-dled. The Major was wroth, and so part of the load was put on. a passing cart, and we eventually got to the village, where we found the rest of the men being entertained oa coffee «__<_ biscuit* by; ft loyal Dutch

paator, axwl some ladies. We were then ' marched up to ai big store, where we un- ( •addled «nd put-all -the gear under cover. , The horses were then put into a kraal, j which is a sort of -enclosure, this particular i one being partly dug out of tho side of '• tf*o hill, from which the rebels threw stones j at night that frightened our horses terribly. , Dr. Darter insisted on- providing beds for • nil the officers, whilst the men were « bivouacked in a tug store. There were a < few loyalists, but the majority received ua in sullen silence. The men were bent on ( making the best-<of things, and l*t«r on in . the evening I heard the sound of bagpipes, which I traced to a email public-house, and '■ found Piper Henderson marching up and ( down the room, blowing for ail he was ' worth, whilst an appreciative audience , squatted round the edges of the limited , apace. ' ON THE WAY TO CARNARVON. j Next morning Lieutenant Crawshaw and j Bergeant Street were despatched at daylight to Carnarvon, a drive of seventy miles, where they had to arrange for forage and , Camping grounds. They were provided ( •with a Cape cart and two horses, aud ex- i pected to reach their destination by mid- ' night if they got tlirough the district safely. } The test of us saddled up, and followed at j 9 a.m., a few half-castes cheering us, and , the rest of the population carefully ignor- 1 ing the troops. A mile out, a bugler's ; horse gave way, and hail to be sent back, • whilet the bugler was brought on by waggon. Our transport consists of thiee wag- ( gous, each drawn by fourteen mules. One ( team is a very handsome lot, but the other ] animals are a little larger than a St. Ber- i tvard dog. and the sight of a huge canvas ' waggon drawn by seven brace of diminutive . black things was too much for the hories, j who were frightened terribly. The roads ] ore very sandy, with patches of bare rock, j The country is dreadful, and' forsaken look- 1 ing, and the inhabitants don't seem to wash. A trooper caustically observed that for his j part he did not see anything worth fight- i ing for in such a ho'.e. 1 A BRIEF REST. ■ We unsaddled at Geinstokfor.tein, a farm ' belonging to a rebel who was not averse to '' making a little money by selling grapes. \ We watered the horses in a muddy lake, ' the water being pure mud of a yellow gold ' colour. The horses did not like it, but were so parched that they drank it greedily. After a few minutes toasting and comparing notes, the rest of the day's march con- . •isted of twelve miles of vile road under a . blazing stm. The men were very silent, and tho occasional order to trot or dismount , and lead was welcomed with joy, as a change from the dreariness of the march. The hcrses felt the heat terribly, and as the day went on several men had to dis- ' mount and lead their charges behind the waggons. We reached our stopping place, • farm called! Kweekwa, at live, having covered twenty-four miles. The farmer ! WM a Dutch rebel, but was willing to cell oats and allow tho kraal to be used for the horses. He had the cool oheek to charge the men sixpence a pint of lukewarm water, which the thirsty troopers were foolish enough to pay. The horses were put s#f,: the saddles arranged in a circle round the' waggons, and everyone dog-tired lay down to sleep on the ground where he could find a soft spot. THE BOER METHODS AT KENHARDT. It waa here that I met aMr Harvey, a ricn refugee from Kenhardt. Ho had travelled all day and night in his cart, and was going on as fast as he could to Victoria West. He gave us a graphic description of the methods of oon_nmnd<ering adopted by the rebels. The rebels, led by a gentleman called Steenkamp, who was recently nearly hanged for murdering a half-caste, entered the town,, imprisoned the magistrate and his clerics in their bath room (this being a portion of the house for which the conquering heroes "havo no use), and formally annexed the district to the Free State. One of the troop then accidentally shot himself, to add piquancy to the capture of the town. A doctor was commandeered, and bound up the sufferer. All decent people were then ordered to fight or leave. Our friend left. The neighbouring fanners were then ordered to present themselves at the camp on pain ©f tho penalty of £25 fine the first day, £60 the second, £500 the third, and death after four days' delay. They were told to bring fifteen cartridges and a pound of powder, that being the Amount prescribed by the Dutch law, and Kenhardt thus beeanvra den of thieves. The half-castes, wSio have an ttndying hatred of the Dutch, and many, ipany years of cruelty to avenge, then attempted to bolt, but were surrounded and imprisoned, and I fear that some will be shot. The magistrate was next tried by the arch-thief, Steenkamp, on a charge of attempted murder, he, it was alleged, having incited the half-castes to rise on their Dutch conquerors. After a farcical trial, he was condemned, and sent for trial to Bloemfontein, his judge being totally ignorant that his maater, Cronje. had been shivexed to bits by Roberts, and that the road to Bloemfontein was kharki coloured. Our informant then left us, and wo joined the sleeping brigade. AN EXCITING MOMENT. An hour later tho sound of a bugle woke mc, and I sprang to my feet to find the camp alarmed. The bugle was now plainly j keard rapidly approaching the camp. There wm a cry of, "It's blowing 'lights out* in the Boer camp." (I must tell you that we had i-eceived information that the Boers were quite close). Then, "No. it's not; it's Bounding the charge. Look! that's cavalry coming!" and «. wildly-exciUd trooper pointed to some moving mass approaching us. The guard fixed bayonets, and several men ran out of the laager, and lay down" facing the approaching mass. I looked at the wacgon in whkh the senior officers were sleeoing, and in the starlight I dimly saw a tail figure in neglige costume, a literal deus ex ma«hina, standing on the tail board, surveying the excited boys with an air of sorrowful amusement. The excitement increased, revolvers were hastily loaded, and one boy rushed up to his officer and begged him to "form htJlcw square. The bugle ceassd, and a dead silence ensued. Finally Coq>'»ral Jones appeared, aad reported to the Major, "Post cart, sir! blowing the post horn." "Exact'v «>," said the imperturbable Major, who disappeared into the wagfcon, 'leaving us looking foolishly at each other and wishing we had shown more calmness. Of course, it was our first alarm, and we •were lying in the open, surrounded with hills, and could have been surprised easily enough. I went round the guards with tie orderly officer, and found three old hands -lying twenty yards outside the laa<«er watching with al' " their might. They showed no excitement at all, and sighed sadly when they were told that the enemy was her Majesty's post cart, but as a reward they were allowed to search the environs of the camp. The rest of the night passed quietly, but I fancy few slept well. AT ANOTHER DUTCH FARM. We were off at 6 a.m., and a hot, dusty ride of three hours brought us in a parched condition to Pampoemfort, a pretty Dutch farm, with the usual big dam of rain water. The men bivouacked in the store, and the officers lunched with the farmer, a very decent lip loyalist, who tackled the medical officer, and assured him that the rebels would shoot him on sight—a, piece of information which the much-abused surgeon received with a sorrowful grin. There were rom« tame meer cats running about the kitchen—wee animals like rats, which eat file- and have a horrid habit of getting under one's feet. The farmer's wife was a placid lady, who silently fed xhe guests. The husband was rather decent, and remarked that he had never expected to see English troops passing through his farm. Our worthy Captain Hayhurst declined a second helping of old goat, or tanned leather chops, so the host remarked in Dutch, "He eats as little as his horse/ end when begged to explain the joke, said that we fed our horses far too Kttle. IN AN AWKWARD CORNER. Our next stage was fifteen miles through » mndy, heat-stricken country. After ten p.;!- of this the guide halted and told the Major tiu* ▼• JBUf6 "° w *•* **«>«*& a __~J___

corkscrew valley or nek, and tnac it. was quite probable that the rebels would fire on us during our passage. Sergeant Blair was ordered to take his company through at a gallop, and went full tilt all the way in half-section formation. It certainly was a nasty place. A narrow rood wound up the hill in a oork.scr.HV manner between huge hflls covered with rocks, and a few men could have wiped us cut with ease and certainty. Anyhow we got through, and overtook the baggage waggons in charge of Corporal Jones. We one cannon report, and concluded th_t our approach was being signalled. An hour laier we arrived at our destination, Kaffir's Kraal, and camped at once, all being dead beat. The kraal lies like a sixpenny bit in a saucer, and was completely hidden from observation. The water was drawn from a deep, oblong cutting, and had a lovely growth of green fungus on top, but as it was cold we drank it, and hoped that there was enough medicine in the medical panniers. We turned in as soon as cur indefatigable cook, who rejoices in the peculiarly appropriate name of "King Cole," had made our inevitable stew. EARLY MORNING ON THE VELDT. I was up at 3.30 helping to ioad the wagons. It was pitch dark and deadly cold; but there is a peculiar fascination about the faint starlight, and I could not resist climbing the kopje to see the sun rise, aud have a smoke. A faint yellow gleam came over the edge of the saucer, and slowly grew in intensity. The sentries stood silhouetted against the light, their bayonets just gleaming like dull copper. The stars faded slowly, a few men roused themselves, and a flock of goats crawled over the rocks like white mice. A horse neighed, the nigger driver yelled, and our waggon slowly lumbered out of the camp, and turned the corner of the kopje, the tiny mules looking like mice pulling a mousetrap. A sudden gleam, and the sun just leant over the rim of the bills, and turned everything to gold; and the day was upon us. The Major ordered all men whose horses were sick to parade, and we left forty men and horses behind in charge of Lieutenants Findlay and Montgomerie, the rest of us leaving at once for Carnavon. A short time after leaving camp, a messenger from Carnavon stopped us. He brought in a letter from Lieutenant Crawshaw to say that the rebel Steenkamp was reported to hi in" the neighbourhood, and asking the Major to push on as fast as he could. We stayed an hour at the farm of Klipfontein, and bad our breakfast of bad coffee and sour bread, bought some hay for the horses, and then marched as fast as our weary horses could manage. ARRIVAL AT CARNARVON. We watered again at Blankrontz, where tho sullen- owner refused food or fruit, and an hour later entered the utterly forsaken and sunblistered village from which I am writing. A short way from town some gaily decorated bicycles met us, and as we passed into.the town proper a crowd of coloured people cheered us wildly, the whites contenting themselves with a curious stare. | We put our horses up at a kraal, and then certain loyal ladies gave us all tea. The Chief Magistrate, Mr Dreyer, put his house at tho disposal of the officers, whilst several inhabitants begged to be allowed to put up any spare men. Mr Crawshaw and Sergeant Street had evidently worked hard preparing for us, and on the whole' I fancy everyone was relieved to see us arrive, as Steenkamp has peculiar methods of enforcing hospitality, whilst the English have a pame for paying for things. The horses were terribly done up with the heat, and most of them had sore backs, the leather numnah being quite unsuitable for the climate. Our first location was declared unhealthy, so we have shifted camp to the racecourse, and the horses are all enjoying sand baths and free movement. ine coloured inhabitants are eager to do anything for us, and a portion of the whites are most hospitable, conspicuous among these being a gentleman who is brother-in-law to the rebel Steenkamp, and who declares that he will shoot him on sight. The day tfterour arrival Lieut Findlay brought his f roop in. One Jhorse fell dead soon after starting, and many of the men whose horses were too weak to carry them walked the whole, twenty-four miles uncomplainingly. There was a second demonstration on the arrival of this kronk brigade, and they were escorted into totwn by a nigger band of four dilapidated cornets, which played a sorrowful Dutch hymn, strongly resembling "The Tune of which the i Old Horse Died," but which was singularly appropriate to the band of sick horses. I E ot the loan of a splendid Basuto pony, a wee little animal, but as strong as any of our own horses/ It carried a refugee, the postmaster of Kenhardt, who weighs 2001bs, I from that place to here in two days. I rode I out to meet our sick brigade, and the men grinned at the comic little beast, which is now known as "Tom-tit.' THE DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENT. Last night an amusing incident occurred. One of the officers was seedy, so he slept in the hotel, the doctor being told off to sleep •near him. At four o'clock this morning the latter was suddenly awakened by the terrific clamour of a beil, which is generally used as an alarm bell, and which had been much to the fore when we arrived. Hastily jumping to the conclusion that the Boers had entered the town, he dashed into the sick officer's room, and hauled him out of bed, telling him to dress instantly. When dresstd the two climbed out of the w'jidow and fled toward the camp, the bell still pealing wildly. After a short run, it struck them that the town did not _eem much roused, so they caught a nigI ger and asked where the Boers were. After much tangled language, they ascertained that the half-castes had church service at the unearthly hour of 4.30, and sadly they returned to their hotel beds, via the window. To add insult to injury the church was just opp;«ite, and tho congregation started an unroelodious howl, which they, by courtesy, called a hymn, which kept the two officers on for another hour. The big merchant here has given all our men an invitation to use his garden. There is a huge stove cistern which makes a lovely bath, and our boys can bs seen doily sitting like white crows on the edge, eating grapes, and thoroughly enjoying themselves, the cry of "ladies cominV resulting in a terrific splash as the whole crew take refuge in the. tank. PROBABLE FIGHTING. We hear that the rest of our Contingent, 140 in number, have been ordered to accotnpanv Colonel Parsons, and will take a different route to the rebel districts, so that it iei on the cards that we shall not be united for many weeks. To-day there are rumours of a hot skirmish some miles to the north btweon the De Aar column and the rebels. This may drive the latter down to us, and we hope' to be at work in earnest any day. March 10. We have had the welcome news that the test of our Contingent is on the wav to join us. Even then we stall be only 250 strong, and the Litest reports put the rebel force at 5000 with five guns. Yesterday we received news of a fight at Houwater, which lasted from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a loss of nine wounded of our side, the doctor being amongst the casualties. THE MEN AND THEIR HORSES. The care and affection which the men feel for their horses was well exemplified Jjy a scene I witnessed yesterday. Sergeant Wighton's horse has been ill for two days, and I found the sergeant with Sereeant McGregor attending to the pcor animal in a stable. Wiehton was almost in tears. He and Mc-

uregor had been up all night, and had done everything they could think of. They welcomed a few suggestions, and we spent all the morning trying to ease the poor creature. Finally it was' given opium, and when the horse lav quiet Wighton was almost too glad to speak. I told him that there was very little hope, but he said he would feel glad if his horse died without pain. It was rea~lv pathetic to see how well the horse understood tint we were trying to help it. and when in jrreat pain it put- its head on its master's t-h-iulder and never groaned a bit. It died quietly a few hours later. DISCOURAGING A NURSE. The ladies here are, of course, eager to nur*e, and one told mc that a friend of ber's m-de her way to a large field hospital and joined as a volunteer nurse. Her first essay n *he ward* was rather a failure. She looked round for some deed of mercy to do, and as a start resolved to wash all the men's faces. She accosted the first sufferer, and said— "NKv I wr«h your face?" "Oh! thank you, no, miss. It's been wished fourtf-en times breakfast, and I h-vr ixvm'.eed ether ladips." This choked the nurse off effectually. THE HEALTH OF THE MEN. Trooper Naldcr. of Ger.ddine, has been seedy for the last few days, and has been sent'to the hospital or, rather, the hotel, a day in bed being a great restorative. The water is rather injurious to the men's health, and mimv minor cases of sickness are reported daily. When we leave here «c enter a very baddlstrict with a vile reputation for typhoid fever ar>d rebels, so an ord?r is to be issued forbidding the men to drink anything but tea or boiled water. AN EXPERIENCE IN COMMANDEERING.

Lieutenant Findlay has the record for doin* the first commandeering. When bringin" tiro sick horse brigade up, he stopped at a farm and asked the farmer to sell the m«-n fruit, a request which the suHen .>w-£r le-fvi-.xl The officer then curtly said, if you won't sell, then I won't forbid my « to take " and take they did, and marched p..?t the farmer bearing bucketsfu! oj' grap*s and pears, to the wild an ? er of the Dutch rebel 1 Our men have rapidly found that this climate is too hot for extra work so each tent has secured the services of a na.td're?~.*d nigsrer boy, who acts as maid, or rather boy, "of all work, and thoroughly enjoys his position, and lords it over his unemployed friends. . One hmirv we can't- swallow is butter made from sheep's tails, the boys remarkitVtbat it is not the right thm ? to leave the tails on, so they show their disapproval by dec'ining the dainty. "With reference to a statement made to mc by one of the Kimberley Town Guard about the Boers shooting the British wourded. I see in a file of the "Cape Times an energetic denial by a Dutchman, but I have given the story as actually related to mc by one of the garrison, and only hope he was mistaken, but- believe he was telling m* the truth, as two other Guards who were fellow-travelers told mc the same story. To-day (Sunday) we had a church service in the courthouse, a crowd of appreciative half-castes watching ns through the windows with great curiosity. The men all carried their bandoliers and carbines in. case of an alarm. We have just received a patrol report stating that the rebels intend taking Carnarvon, and so small fortifications are to be erected, and we are eagerly hoping for a picnic on the hills this week. I have to close now, as the extremely erratic mail has had a spasmodic attack of energy, and will go to-morrow early. This afternoon our men amused themselves by drilling a squad of little niegers who are' known as the "Black Watch." It was really comic to see the minute darkies —"What are you talking in the ranks for?" "Go on picket to-night," "Dismiss." "Pay day" is a distribution of hard biscuits, and the dark regiment scamper off, and like their white comrades proceed to discuss j their officers.